How We Showered While Living in a Roofnest Rooftop Tent
We traveled for 3 weeks in our Chevy Tahoe and rooftop tent. We spent most of our time in a campground near Lake Tahoe, while the last week of our trip was spent visiting the Grand Canyon, Sedona, and Colorado. One of the top questions we’ve gotten was if we showered throughout our trip and if so, how?
Here are 5 shower options we had while on the road:
Campground Showers
This was an easy option since we had booked a couple campsites early on in our trip. One of our first campsites had a bathroom and free showers. Not all will have showers, but if they do we always make sure to utilize them.
Tip: keep quarters handy as not all campground showers will be free. Some only take quarters!
Rivers
Kate showering in the river using the shower-head.
While cold, showering in the river was VERY refreshing! Our campsite just outside of Lake Tahoe had a trail and river right behind it. This made it perfect for us to take a quick shower after work.
Most of the days, we just brought our towel and jumped in. A couple times we tested out our battery-operated shower head (shown above), which we’ll talk further on in the next section!
To make sure you have the best experience while also keeping the environment safe, we recommend:
If you can shower earlier in the day while warmer, do it. We noticed in our area that it got colder once the sun lowered behind the mountains, so we always made sure to head over right after we got off work at 3pm. This also cooled us down after a sweaty bike ride home ;)
Take your time finding a secluded spot. We walked around on the trail for awhile before we found our “perfect” spot. We were hidden below the main trail and right next to a tree that helped block a cabin across the river.
Avoid using any type of soap in rivers or lakes. You should at least be 200 feet away from any body of water. This is because any type of soap can change the pH of the water. If you do use soap back at your campsite, choose biodegradable soap. We recommend Dr. Bronners 18-in-1 Pure Castile Liquid Soap, because it’s safe and has many purposes (like washing dishes, hands, and showering at a campsite shower).
Bucket of water and battery-operated shower head
This is a great option if you don’t have a river nearby. We brought a bucket as well as a battery-operated shower head. The bottom of the pump sits in water and once turned on, will push water through the hose and out the shower head. It’s the perfect way to get clean while on-the-go.
We will note that we never ended up using the bucket, but instead used the shower head in the river. But, we know if we’re ever in an urgent need to shower, we just need to fill up the bucket with water and we’re good to go!
Airbnb
While we did stay in our rooftop tent most nights, we did book an Airbnb during our trip to catch up on some zzz’s, do laundry, and to cherish a nice warm shower.
Not showering
Not showering seems like the easiest answer, but we did want to note a couple things that went through our head when we decided to not shower:
We didn’t shower the last 4 days while in Lake Tahoe due to it being colder and us simply not wanting to jump into the river in the colder weather.
We weren’t as active the last couple days while it was colder outside, which made it easier to not shower.
Usually if we get super sweaty or dirty, we make it a priority to either figure out how to shower or at least use wipes to clean off the dirt.
While we did lay out a lot of options, we do want to call out that showering isn’t the easiest while living on the road. You have to figure out which option is best for that moment, knowing that sometimes your only option is to simply not shower and to figure out how to get your next shower. A lot of planning goes into it, but it all makes you appreciate the shower even more. It’s all a part of being on the road!
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